Another Bad Crash as Embarcadero Safety Project Languishes

City also cancels safety project on Townsend

A hit-and-run driver slammed into a pedicab yesterday on the Embarcadero near Pier 29, sometime before 5 p.m., injuring a family, including two children. From the Fire Department’s news feed, the victims sustained “serious injuries” and included a “five and an eight-year-old.” It was later clarified that only the pedicab driver sustained life-threatening injuries, according to a report by CBS.

The horror of this latest incident drove advocate and Streetsblog reader Anthony Trezos to ask the obvious question of SFMTA officials–what happened to the Embarcadero Enhancement Project, which was supposed to provide protected bike lanes? (he cc’d Streetsblog on his email to the agency).

What exactly is the delay on the enhancement project for the thoroughfare? Why haven’t we seen any movement on this project? I would like to remind you/bring to your attention a recent hit-and-run occurred on the avenue the other day involving a pedicab. I understand that there are no guarantees the project would have prevented it, but I’m positive it could have helped. As a driver, cyclist, and Muni rider, I would like to start seeing this progress.

Trezos’s sentiment is spot on. Nearly two years ago, Streetsblog reported on SFMTA’s plans for safety upgrades on the Embarcadero. Yet, once again, we find a project forever stuck in study and process while dangerous conditions persist.

“We are working with the Port of San Francisco, who have jurisdiction over The Embarcadero, in finalizing our conceptual design. Designing a project of this scale on The Embarcadero is not only extremely complex from a technical perspective, but we have to ensure that The Embarcadero continues to support the businesses and industry that rely on the street for access and operation,” wrote Paul Rose, a spokesman for the SFMTA, in an email to Streetsblog. He added that the “Embarcadero Enhancement Project will be coordinated with the Seawall Resiliency Project, which is being managed by the Port.”

The project web page, meanwhile, just says the designs should have been finished last year and that it will include “a bicycle facility that is physically separated from moving or parked vehicles and pedestrians.”

SF street safety for unarmored uses (bikes, peds, scooters) has reached crisis levels. Today two kids were hit and run. And @sfmta_muni is off canceling protected bike lane projects. @LondonBreed we need u to stand up big. We have an army that wants to help https://t.co/XCB7XZOMYd

“Sadly, the Embarcadero is yet another example of San Francisco’s City agencies seeing an opportunity to collaborate and looking the other way. We have a high-injury corridor here where protected bike lanes have been discussed for years, but delays result in more people being hurt,” wrote the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition’s Chris Cassidy, in an official statement about the crash. “This is preventable, and it’s on City leaders to demand a change.”

Townsend Project Cancelled?

In his tweet about the Embarcadero, Brezina also mentioned that SFMTA is “off canceling protected bike lane projects.” He’s talking about a separate, apparently behind-the-scenes decision to kill the Townsend Corridor Improvement Project, another long-delayed plan, this one intentioned to straighten out the cluster-f*ck around the Caltrain depot. After noticing the previously unannounced cancellation via SFMTA’s web page, the Bicycle Coalition’s Brian Wiedenmeier dashed off an angry letter to SFMTA head Ed Reiskin.

Last Friday, these designs were unceremoniously replaced with a message stating that the “project will no longer be moving forward.” With little to no notice, the SFMTA scrapped a project that was due to be in the ground in just over six months. This reversal represents betrayals of the SFMTA’s commitments to Vision Zero, to the work of the SFMTA staff who worked on this project, and to members of the public who gave input on this project and worked to see it constructed.

The Embarcadero will have two-way, protected bike lanes on the water side of the street–in four years. The new designs were presented to the public Thursday evening, on the second level of the Ferry Building. “Let’s talk about the old days, when across the street there was a double-decker freeway,” said Supervisor Aaron Peskin at the […]

Yesterday evening, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency held an open house, at Pier 1 on the Embarcadero, to get public feedback for the Embarcadero Enhancement Project. From the SFMTA website: The SFMTA, Port of San Francisco, San Francisco Planning Department and San Francisco Public Works Department are collaborating on a planning project that will […]

If the family had stayed home and gone for a bike ride on Vancouver's waterfront, it's unlikely they would have been in a serious crash, because they wouldn't be riding in the street with traffic in the first place.

Some 45 yellow-shirted safety advocates turned out last night to demand a protected bike lane on the Embarcadero. “We as a city have prioritized cars over safety,” said Matt Brezina, a chief organizer of this protest and previous ones on Valencia and Golden Gate. Brezina was pleased at the turnout and the fact that, as […]

From SFMTA: The Project The Embarcadero Enhancement Project is a planning exercise to develop a conceptual design for a protected bikeway along The Embarcadero to improve safety and comfort for all. This Workshop This public design workshop will focus on The Embarcadero’s southern segment (Folsom St. to AT&T Park.) You’ll get to: Take part in […]